The New IBM Mainframe: Should You Make The Move To System z10?

IBM's next-generation mainframe — the System z10 EC — brings an extremely broad, deep, and complex array of feature/functionality enhancements to the table. Whether you're a System z990 or z9 shop, you've probably already taken the first evaluation steps, poring over data sheets and announcement letters. If you're considering a z10 upgrade in the short term, you must identify all of the feature enhancements and attempt to separate the "must-have" and "nice-to-have" enhancements into a shorter list of truly improved feature/functionality. Still, the evaluation process for this System z10 mainframe upgrade is nontrivial. Unraveling the implications of all the feature enhancements is hard enough, but translating them into differentiated feature/functionality is much harder. This analysis navigates you past the complex collection of features enhancements, presenting only the shortlist of feature/functionality we consider truly transformative — the bigger motivators to consider when choosing whether or not to make the z10 move.